Grisaille

Taking a monochromatic gray palette as its organizing principle, Grisaille explores this medieval painterly paradigm in order to construct a formally varied, conceptually revelatory, trans-historical exhibition. 

From tromple l'oeil to underpainting to its role as the perfect non-color and finally its embrance and championship as color in its own right - the concept of grisaille has been changing and expanding for centuries. The tension between gray's apparent simplicity and its inherent complexity has inspired us to look anew at this long tradition and explore the variety of ways in which artists have responded to it, from free painterly expression to rigorous pictoril construction, in an astonishing range of technical and conceptual innovation. 

This catalogue was published on the occasion of the exhibition Grisaille at Luxembourg & Dayan, London, October 9 - December 23, 2011, and Luxembourg & Dayan, New York,  November 7 - January 14, 2012. It includes an essay titled 'The Enemy of Painting is Gray' by Alison Gingeras, 67 images, the artwork list and a bibliography.